"In America, everything was possible," recalls Louis Adamic of Slovenia. "There even the common people were 'citizens,' not 'subjects' . . . a citizen, or even a non-citizen foreigner, could walk up to the President of the United States and pump his hand. Indeed, that seemed to be a custom in America." The history and experience of immigration remain central to American culture, past and present. This anthology surveys the recollections of emigrants from around the world who sought new lives in the United States. Their stories range in mood and setting from the misery of an Englishman in colonial Virginia, bound by indentured servitude, to the cultural commentary of an Iranian woman in California. Poignant, eye-opening reflections include those of a Polish sweatshop laborer, a Chinese businessman, an Italian bootblack, and a Ukrainian musician, in addition to observations and reminiscences by Jacob Riis, Edwidge Danticat, Junot Díaz, and other well-known authors. Richard Frethorne from an Indentured Servant (1623) — Gottlieb Mittelberger to Pennsylvania (1754) — Hector St. John de Crevecoeur Is an American? (1782) — Frank Lecouvreur East Prussia to the Golden Gate (1852) — Emma Lazarus New Colossus (1883) — Hans Mattson The Story of an Emigrant (1891) — Sadie Browne Life Story of a Polish Sweatshop Girl (1906) — Lee Chew Life Story of a Chinese Businessman (1906) — Rocco Corresca Life Story of an Italian Bootblack (1906) — Jacob Riis Making of an American (1908) — Abraham Rihbany and Shadows (1914) — Edward Steiner Alien to Citizen (1914) — Anna Hilda Louise Walther Pilgrimage with a Milliner's Needle (1917) — Rose Cohen of the Shadow (1918) — Edward Bok America Fell Short with Me (1922) — Louis Adamic in Carniola (1932) — Stoyan Pribichevich an American Factory (1938) — Andrés Aragon the Death of Spain (1978) — Nicholas Gerros Horatio Alger (1978) — Carlos Bulosan Education (1979) — Edwidge Danticat New World Full of Strangers (1987) — Vladimir Vernikov ABC of a New Profession (1991) — Dympna Ugwu-Oju Delia (1995) — Aleksandar Hemon to Door (2001) — Mela Tannenbaum Musician's Journey (2002) — Firoozeh Dumas in Farsi: The "F Word" (2003) — Junot Díaz with Turtle (2004) — Rose Castillo Guilbault Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America (2005) — Orubba Almansouri of Kitchen (2009)